Daniel Wallis, PlanetArk 13 Nov 07;
NAIROBI - Countries must speed up collective efforts to phase out the use of deadly mercury, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday.
Industries from mining to chemicals manufacture and power generation use the toxic heavy metal, and many governments have taken steps in recent decades to cut usage and protect citizens.
"However, the fact remains that a comprehensive and decisive response to the global challenge of mercury is not in place and this needs to be urgently addressed," Achim Steiner, the head of Nairobi-based UNEP, said in a statement.
Exposure to mercury -- sometimes called quicksilver -- can damage the brain, nervous system and foetuses.
Western nations have slashed its usage, but activists say poorer countries increasingly rely on it for processes including small-scale gold mining.
UNEP is hosting a week-long meeting of governments and experts that began in Thailand on Monday to discuss how to reduce environmental sources of mercury.
Steiner said the world was demanding fast action.
"There is no real reason to wait on many of the mercury fronts. Viable alternatives exist for virtually all products containing mercury and industrial processes using mercury."
Scores of environment ministers meeting in Kenya in February agreed to phase out mercury use, but stopped short of a legally binding treaty imposing tough targets that had been demanded by anti-mercury campaigners and the European Union (EU).
Activists blamed a group of countries led by the United States, which rejected the idea of a binding treaty, preferring what it said were more flexible voluntary partnerships aimed at helping developing nations cut their use of the toxic metal.
The EU, the world's top mercury exporter, plans to ban exports by 2011. The biggest importers are China and India.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
UN demands deal to phase-out use of mercury
Yahoo News 13 Nov 07
The United Nations Monday urged governments to reach a deal on phasing-out the use of mercury, a toxic pollutant harmful to human health and the environment.
Although many countries have taken steps to cut the use of the poisonous heavy metal and its release into the environment, more needs to be done according to the Nairobi office of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
"However the fact remains that a comprehensive and decisive response to the global challenge of mercury is not in place and this needs to be urgently addressed," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement.
The UNEP call came as governments and experts met on Monday in the Thai capital Bangkok to discuss ways of reducing the use of mercury with a range of options, including voluntary measures and legally binding treaties, on the agenda.
Although rich nations have dramatically slashed their use of mercury, the element is still used in poor nations in the small-scale extraction of gold, UNEP said.
Exposure to mercury can damage the nervous system, the kidney, the brain and foetuses.
"There is no real reason to wait...viable alternatives exist for virtually all products containing mercury and industrial processes using mercury," Steiner explained.
In February, the UNEP governing council agreed on the eradication of mercury but stopped short of enacting a legally-binding treaty.
